Celestini Program

Support the Celestini Program

Created by the Young Scholars

The Marconi Society Young Scholars are committed to growing the next generation of communications innovators by empowering technical undergrads in developing countries to use technology to create social and economic transformation in their communities.

We partner with universities, businesses and governments to help students identify projects and implement solutions. We provide mentoring, lab equipment, faculty support and opportunities for students to showcase their accomplishments and make critical connections. The students bring creativity, technical skills and a passion for making a difference.

Celestini Program: India

Established 2017

Issue

Over 200,000 people in India lost their lives in road accidents in 2015

Traffic accidents are the top cause of death for people aged 19-25

In Delhi, many of these accidents are caused by buses hitting pedestrians and cyclists

Approach

Objective: Reduce fatalities due to traffic collisions

Marconi Young Scholar Dr. Aakanksha Chowdhery of Princeton University teamed with eight universities in India and Google

Four teams focused on creating video analytics and alerts to notify drivers of potential collisions

Results

30 students participated in Phase I, six students selected for Phase II

Created testbed at IIT Delhi experimenting with collaborative driver assistance to prevent collisions with pedestrians and other vehicles; designed using cameras connected to Raspberry Pis that communicate to cloud via mobile phone app

Phase II kicked off with Human Centered Design Workshop involving 33 participants from Makerere University and local women’s health groups

Results

Created a mobile app to track the health of pregnant women and identify potential for hypertensive disorder

Developed a database to track patients, generate reports for doctors and store data

Built a web application to schedule health care visits

Powered by Global Partnerships

Projects in each local area include partnership with local universities, businesses and government agencies. The Celestini Program is built on a proven blueprint for success that local teams can customize for their communities.